A+E Interactive » Splash Damagehttp://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei
Bay Area Arts and Entertainment BlogMon, 30 Mar 2015 12:40:46 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1On the Brink of redefining online multiplayerhttp://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2011/02/28/brink-online-multiplayer/
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2011/02/28/brink-online-multiplayer/#commentsMon, 28 Feb 2011 17:37:13 +0000Gieson Cachohttp://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/?p=20954
If there’s one thing that multiplayer shooters need to do it’s evolve. Get complacent and the world passes you by. Now that the leveling system popularized in Modern Warfare has become the norm, other games are searching for the next… Continue Reading →]]>
If there’s one thing that multiplayer shooters need to do it’s evolve. Get complacent and the world passes you by. Now that the leveling system popularized in Modern Warfare has become the norm, other games are searching for the next big gameplay twist.
It could come from Kaos Studios’ Homefront, which has a compelling battlepoints system that could move the genre forward. On the opposite end, Brink could be the new mold for online shooters with its focus on teamwork over personal glory.
I had a chance to spend time with Splash Damage’s upcoming project recently. The Brink developers introduced me to life on the ark, a floating city that was built after the seas rose and civilization collapsed. It’s a place that’s been evenly split between security forces who want to preserve the ark, saving everyone onboard, and the rebels who want to leave the ark and search for any survivors of the climate disaster.
Despite the looks of the characters, there’s no real good side or bad side. Brink simply involves two factions that have different opinions on how to put world back together after it’s fallen apart. But before going into that drama, players have an opportunity to create their own character. They can change anything from skin tone to accents. (You can go Jamaican, British, American, etc.) They can dress them up with the option of adding unlocked clothing and gear, and best of all, players don’t have to create separate loadouts for each faction. The traits players choose transfer seemlessly from rebel force to security and vice versa.
The most important attribute in deciding a character is his size. Once you choose the proportions, it pretty much sticks. A small, light person has more maneuverability but lower health. They can reach higher places than medium or large characters. Medium-sized people benefit from more health and can carry larger weapons than their lithe counterparts. Meanwhile, the heavies have the most health along with the benefit of carrying heavier weapons. The only problem is that they’re slower and can’t reach higher-up places.
The only other issue players will have to worry about during character creation is choosing a universal ability that works along with the abilities they get with the in-game classes. Universal abilities include the power to shoot a tossed grenade in the air or combat intuition that lets them sense when they’re in the crosshairs of a foe. Think of these as perks.
When it comes to actually playing, gamers have three modes of play:
Campaign -- It pretty much takes you through the story of Brink. Friends and strangers can join in and help you play as the security force or rebels. They drop in and out, taking over AI characters who battle at your side.
Freeplay -- It’s a place where you can customize the rules for a certain mission and do them in any order.
Challange -- This is the mode with the leaderboards and scenario-specific rule sets. It’s a place where players hone their skills, and by completing challenges, they can unlock weapons and attachments.
Now that I was settled in, I entered the world of Brink as a soldier working security. My squadmates and I infiltrated Container City, and our first objective was to get a robot to the front door. But that’s easier said than done when a rival group of human-controlled rebels are shooting at you. It creates an interesting tug of war as each faction tries to stop the other. As a soldier, I had the explosives and I could distribute ammo among allies. We all started as this and found out that diversity was desperately needed.
I quickly switched to the medic, which has different gear, but also has the ability to heal. Splash Damage manages to encourage players to fill their roles by giving more experience for helping your teammates rather than killing enemies. Sure you can give yourself a health boost, but you get the most bang for your buck by healing others. And of course, players can't spam out heals or ammo constantly on the battlefield. These abilities are limited by the supply meter at the lower left.
Aside from the soldiers and medics, players can also be opportunists who act as spies and hackers. They can spot mines that are laid down by engineers, the last class in Brink. Engineers can buff players weapons and build structures so that allies can take short cuts through the map. They can also create sentries to guard consoles that players capture throughout the stage. These consoles are vital because A) they give the team another spawn point and B) add another bar of health to everyone on the team.
Combine these classes with universal abilities and body types and players are dealing with plenty of options and play-styles. Splash Damage doesn’t have a strict class system. They can have a burly medic capable of going into the front lines and saving downed comrades or they can build a light-footed engineer capable of scaling high places and building sentries in annoying places.
With all these options and so much to do on the battlefield, it was pretty distracting. As medic, I healed allies in gunfights, revived others and on top of that I had to help win the objective. To help me manage, Splash Damage came up with a simplified mission system that directs you to primary and secondary tasks. To get pointed in the right direction, all you do is press up on the D-pad.
Eventually, the robot we were protecting and constantly fixing (thanks engineers) got to its destination. It now had to fulfill its role and the mission changed from an unusual escort to a conventional capture the flag. The robot somehow got the targeted package loose, and it was up to the squad to get it back to the boat. I was actually amazed at how seemless it all was, and it made me curious to see how the other missions over time.
What’s even more interesting is that Brink has two distinct campaigns. They each tell one side of the story, but the views are so slanted that the truth is always ambiguous. For example, in the Container City level, the security forces are told that the rebels have a bioweapon and that was the package that they absolutely had to extract. On the flip side, the rebels say that the bioweapon is really a vaccine, and when you’re playing that same mission as that group, you’ll have to defend it tooth and nail from security forces.
With the addition of collectible audiologs scattered through the campaign, Brink has an RPG sensibility that's unusual for a shooter. The opportunity to discover both sides of the story gives it replayability that's added on to experimentation with different body sizes and classes. Either way, the experience will be different for each session.
Playing it, Brink looks like it’s shaping up to be the most forward-thinking co-op game to come out in a while. It combines the easy drop-in, drop-out feature of Left 4 Dead with the class system of a Team Fortress. It’s a game that doesn’t get caught up in individual achievements. It’s about a team and filling roles. Players don’t get much experience points for kills. There’s more leveling opportunities in helping teammates and completing missions. You can even play the whole game without killing anyone. (Pacifists will be happy there.) There aren’t even kill-death ratios to worry about.
Brink’s concept feels so pure and laser-focused that I have little doubt that it will succeed when it's released May 17.]]>http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2011/02/28/brink-online-multiplayer/feed/18AllChange.jpgIfItBleeds.jpgGateSlide.jpgFightingInTheWarRoom.jpgMaskedMenace.jpgStayDown.jpg